Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Introducing: Boston Knight Brinkerhoff

After 2 hours of contractions the night before (Tuesday),
a few while I was sleeping and contractions every 2-7 minutes apart all
the next day (Wednesday), I heeded the advice of 2 different nurses and
decided it would be best if I went to labor and delivery to get checked
out. I waited until after picking Jane up from school at 3pm and after
getting them situated at a friend's home, got to the hospital with
Brandt about 4:30pm. They checked me and I was already 3.5 centimeters
and 70% effaced. I thought maybe it wouldn't happen because I was 18
days early but all the nurses just laughed and said, "Yeah... you're
having a baby tonight."

They hooked me up to penicillin and I just breathed through
the contractions until my arm started on fire. I didn't need penicillin
with the girls so this was a new experience. It hurt way worse than the
contractions. The nurses put some ice on it and thank goodness that
helped. They checked me 2 hours later (about 7pm) and I was 4
centimeters. I could handle the contractions at this point but knew they
were getting worse and since the anesthesiologist was available, I went
ahead and asked for the epidural. I got it about an hour later (8pm)
and it hardly hurt AND it worked this time! I was super nervous because
Wendy's only worked on my right side but this time it worked like a
charm. The guy who did it said, "I guarantee it 100%".

They started me on pitocin when my contractions started
slowing down about 45 minutes later but had to come slow down the
pitocin because I was having contractions every minute with no break
(though I didn't feel them). They came in and checked me and broke my
water about 10:30pm and I was 8 centimeters. Shortly after, I started
feeling pressure and they said the baby's head was coming down so they
got all ready for me to push. I pushed for MAYBE 2 minutes, a total of 4
times, and out he FLEW along with most of my water behind him. Everyone
in the room gasped when he came out because they
weren't expecting it. It was so fast and so painless I said, "That was
too easy!" Boston Knight Brinkerhoff was born at 11:05pm on June 4,
2014. He weighed 6lbs 15oz and was 19.75 inches long. My biggest by more
than a pound. Brandt said, "You didn't even break a sweat or make any
noise!" I am VERY grateful it was a million times less painful than
Wendy's delivery.

First picture:

He was often sucking his fingers during the ultrasounds so naturally he is in his first picture as well!

(Forgot the camera since we didn't think we'd be having a baby so the next few are from my camera phone.)

His 3D ultrasound image from 31 weeks pregnant:

He had heavy breathing so I couldn't hold him or nurse him for
a while. Finally I got to hold him but still wasn't allowed to nurse
him because they didn't want to stress his breathing more. I did try
when they left because I knew he was hungry (a few hours after birth) and he latched on perfectly.
They kept checking on him and finally did a chest x-ray which showed he
had a lot of fluid in his lungs to go along with the heart murmur they
found earlier. They took him to the nursery for an IV and monitoring so
I got to sleep a little bit, you know, as much as you can with people
coming in and out.

I spent the next day visiting him in the
nursery every few hours and about mid day was finally allowed to bottle
feed him a little. Because he was in the nursery, Brandt didn't bring
the girls to see him (no kids allowed in there) but Brandt came and
spent a good part of the day with me. My favorite was visiting Boston in
the nursery and feeding him while Brandt was there and my second
favorite was the both of us taking a nap kid-free! Brandt left to take
Jane to her preschool graduation and I visited Boston a couple more
times before turning the night feedings over to the nurses and getting
my last night of rest. I was able to sleep from like midnight to 6am and
it felt so good.

Pictures from the day after he was born while in the nursery:

On Friday, Boston was finally off the IV but still needed
to be monitored so he continued to stay in the nursery. I had Brandt
bring the girls to come see him at least through the nursery window but
when they got there he had just gone in to get the little snip snip so
we had to wait a while. They finally brought him into our room and the Dr. gave us the go ahead to go home! The girls were SO excited to see
him! Wendy would say, "See baby boy?" and have Brandt lift her up, then
walk back to her chair and a minute later repeat it again about a
million times.

Boston meets his sisters before getting released on Friday:

My favorite part about that afternoon was when I was
changing his diaper for the first time and as all of us were crowding
around him, he peed over himself and onto Jane. Jane started saying how
gross it was that he peed on her hands and Wendy starting scream crying
because it scared her so bad! Their different reactions still crack me
up. Now every time I change him, Jane warns us all what can happen.

My sweet Boston Knight:

We finally left around 3pm and are now a family of
5! The kids out number us and I think they know it :) We are grateful
Boston is healthy and doing well, that my epidural worked and that the
labor and delivery were easy. I'm also very grateful to have Boston on
the outside of me!